3M forecast 2020 profit below estimates on weak Asia demand

[January 28, 2020]  (Reuters) - U.S. industrial giant 3M Co <MMM.N> forecast 2020 profit below expectations and narrowly missed quarterly revenue estimates on Tuesday, as it faces sluggish demand in Asia, its largest market outside the United States, sending its shares down 2.4%.

3M, which makes everything from adhesive tapes to air filters, also said it would cut 1,500 jobs globally as it continues to restructure its businesses.

It expects 2020 profit of between $9.30 per share and $9.75 per share, whose midpoint was below the average analysts' estimate of $9.61 per share.

China, a high-growth market for 3M, expanded at its slowest pace in almost three decades in 2019 amid a bruising trade war with the United States that hit factory production.

Net income attributable to 3M fell to $969 million, or $1.66 per share, in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, from $1.35 billion, or $2.27 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the maker of Post-it notes and Scotch tape earned $1.95 per share.

Net sales fell 2.1% to $8.11 billion and missed expectations of $8.12 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Rachit Vats in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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